1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the manufacture of artificial trees and more particularly, to the manufacture of artificial trees which are extremely rugged and require little or no assembly time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Artificial trees have recently come into vogue and in many areas are actually replacing natural trees due to local scarcity of natural trees and the relatively high cost of shipping trees from more plentiful areas.
One type of artificial tree which has attained wide acceptance is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,594,260 entitled "Artificial Shrubbery and Method of Manufacturing the Same." The disclosure of this patent is hereby incorporated by reference.
The artificial tree disclosed in the above-identified patent comprises a plurality of limbs held by and generally perpendicularly extending from a rod-shaped stem, the limbs being longitudinally separated from each other along the stem by tubular spacing elements. Each limb comprises a number of filaments or "brush stock" closely resembling the needles of a coniferous tree held by and generally radially extending from a rod-shaped limb body. The limb body comprises a plurality of limb body wires having approximately the same lengths and twisted so that the limb body wires and the filaments are intertwined. The stem comprises a plurality of stem wires having approximately the same lengths. In manufacturing the artificial tree the ends of the stem wires facing in one direction are grasped by a first chuck member such that the stem wires are parallel to, but generally spaced from, each other. One or more limbs is then inserted between and generally perpendicular to the stem wires. Next, a tubular spacing element is placed around the non-grasped ends of the stem wires and pushed toward the grasped ends of the stem wires, thereby also sliding the inserted limbs toward the grasped ends. This process of first inserting limbs and thereafter sliding tubular spacing elements is repeated until the tubular elements surround the stem throughout most of its length. The non-grasped ends of the stem wires are then grasped by a second chuck member, and the two chuck members are rotated with respect to each other, thereby intertwisting the stem wires to secure the limbs to the stem wires at longitudinally spaced positions defined by the tubular spacing elements.
Although the tree described in the above-identified patent constitutes a major advance in the art, it does suffer from the disadvantage that the tubular spacing elements and parts of the stem are visible to the eye to a great degree, thus detracting from the natural appearance of the shrub.
One attempt to improve the appearance of the stem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,665,577, which is entitled "Apparatus For Manufacturing Artificial Shrubs" and which is hereby incorporated by reference. This patent discloses at least one narrow web which is inserted between and along the stem wires. As the stem wires are twisted, the web wraps spirally around the stem wires, thereby stimulating a tree trunk and additionally electrically insulating the limbs from the stem wires.
Another attempt to improve the appearance of the stem is disclosed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 058,312, which is entitled "Artificial Tree and Method and Apparatus for Making Same", filed concurrently herewith by Si I. Spiegel, and Peter A. Circelli and now abandoned. The disclosure of this patent application is hereby incorporated by reference.
This application discloses the insertion of a plurality of bristles between the stem members. The stem members are twisted to capture the bristles thereby giving the stem and the resultant tree a fuller, more natural appearance.
The search has continued for new methods of providing artificial trees with fuller, more natural appearance. This invention was made as a result of that search.